Wrights' Evidence Grounds Gustave Whitehead's Flight Of Fancy

Let's ground the claim that Gustave Whitehead of Connecticut piloted the first flight.

So, who really flew the first airplane — the Wright brothers or Gustave Whitehead?

That's a question that has, so to speak, flown around the state for a few years. It's time to ground it permanently.

Mr. Whitehead, who lived in Connecticut, claimed to have flown a proto-airplane in Fairfield in 1901, two years before the Wrights' flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C. His alleged feat was reported in the weekly Bridgeport Herald.

The problem is that no credible photograph of the event exists, and some newspapers of the time were not averse to exaggerating facts, or even fabricating stories, to boost sales.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough weighed in on the subject this week on WNPR's "Where We Live" radio program. "There's no evidence for [Mr. Whitehead's supposed flight] whatsoever," he said. "There's something like 35 noted historians … who have signed statements that say 'It's an interesting story, but there's nothing to support it.'"

Mr. McCullough has just written a book about the Wright Brothers, so it could be argued that he's not a neutral observer. Still, it's hard to ignore his research.

Since 2013, Whitehead believers have trumpeted the fact that the authoritative Jane's "All the World's Aircraft" published a pro-Whitehead article in its centennial edition. More recently, however, Jane's has backpedaled considerably, now saying that the article was purely one writer's opinion, not holy writ.

Perhaps the biggest stunt occurred two years ago, when our state legislature pledged allegiance to the Whitehead tale and declared Connecticut the true birthplace of aviation. A bill this year designating Aug. 14 as Gustave Whitehead Day to honor "the first man to make a manned, powered, controlled flight" didn't make it out of committee, fortunately.

The problem, of course, is that matters of fact aren't decided by vote. The Scottish Parliament might vote unanimously that the Loch Ness monster is real, but that doesn't make it so.